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Mental health disorders are among the leading worldwide causes of disease and long-term disability. This issue has a long and painful history of gradual de-stigmatization of patients, coinciding with humanization of therapeutic approaches. What are the current trends in Russia regarding this issue and in what ways is it similar to and different from Western countries? IQ.HSE provides an overview of this problem based on research carried out by Svetlana Kolpakova.

On September 5, Laurie Manchester, Associate Professor of History at Arizona State University, presented her paper on voluntary repatriation of Russians from China to the Soviet Union between 1935 and 1960. The presentation was part of the research seminar, ‘Boundaries of History’, held regularly by the Department of History at HSE University in St. Petersburg. HSE News Service spoke with Laurie Manchester about her research interests, collaborating with HSE faculty members, and the latest workshop.

Dr. Sabyasachi Tripathi, from Kolkata, India, is a new research fellow at HSE University. He will be working at the Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.

Motivation for Ethno-Cultural Continuity as a Predictor of Acculturation and Adaptation in Two Generations of Latvian Russians

This article presents the results of empirical research on the relationship of motivation for ethno-cultural continuity (MEC) and strategies of acculturation among two generations of the Russian minority in Latvia. We sampled 107 Russian families (mothers: N = 107, age = 35-59, M = 42 years; late adolescents and youth: N = 107, age = 16-24, M = 17 years). The questionnaire included measures of motivation for ethno-cultural continuity, acculturation strategies, sociocultural adaptation, and self-esteem. A path model showed that motivation for ethno-cultural continuity, preference for assimilation, self-esteem, and sociocultural adaptation of mothers significantly related to those of their children. A motivation for ethno-cultural continuity of mothers predicted their preference for integration and self-esteem, while a motivation for ethno-cultural continuity of adolescents predicted their preference for separation. Preference for integration promoted better sociocultural adaptation and self-esteem in both generations. The results allowed consideration of the process of acculturation on the three interrelated levels: individual, family, and ethnic group, with the central role of the family, teaching younger generations to maintain heritage culture and successfully integrate in the larger society.

At this article we describe the benefits from integration not just within one supply chain, but within a net of different supply chains around the world. Today, there is no single methodological approach to integration with companies from different supply chains. However, with thoughtful approach to information management all potential risks from integration with vendors from other supply chains can be minimized, and at the same time benefits from integration with vendors from other supply chains can improve the efficiency of each integrated company, improving its competitive advantage. We will show which major issues the integration on global level can solve, from which modules the integration system should consist and which principles it should follow.

The existing findings on the relationship between optimism and academic performance are rather contradictory. Two studies were undertaken to investigate thе relationship between attributional style, well-being, and academic performance. A new Russian-language measure of attributional style for positive and negative events (Gordeeva, Osin, Shevyakhova, 2009) with stability, globality, and controllability subscales was used. In the first study, optimistic attributional style for good events was associated with higher academic achievement in high school students (N=225) and mediated the effect of academic performance on self-esteem. In the second study, pessimistic attributional style for negative events predicted success in passing three difficult written entrance examinations in university entrants (N=108), and optimistic attributional style for good events predicted success with success expectations as a mediator. The results indicate that attributional styles for positive and negative events are not uniform in their relationship to performance in different academic settings and to well-being variables.

Positive Psychology has become a major approach to the scientific study of individual, social, community and cultural processes. This book includes a selection of papers presented at the 3rd European Conference on Positive Psychology, organized in Braga at the University of Minho, Portugal in 2006. The title of the book reflects its main purpose and a main concern for positive psychology - Understanding Positive Life - balanced between the two scientific pillars, the research and the practice. Several contributions concerning theory, research and practice are presented in three different parts: Happiness, Well-being and Life Satisfaction (Part I); Performance, Coping and Quality of life (Part II); and assessment, Intervention and Practice for a Positive Life (Part III). Each part includes eight chapters, with a great diversity of authors coming from different countries.

The following article is an account of the author’s opinion of the role of language within the framework of society. The paramount idea is that language should not be viewed simply as a means of communication. The author suggests a more profound understanding of language as a medium between society and the culture against the background of which it manifests itself. The aforementioned conception of language provides the author with the opportunity to assert that language constitutes a system of guidelines without which society would lose its identity.

This paper presents an investigation of sources of subjective happiness and their
relationships to subjective well-being, taking into consideration cross-cultural specificity. 76
participants from two different Russian cities (Moscow and Petropavlovsk) were asked to write
down things which make them happy and then to evaluate their actual attainability for them. The
data were compared with Italian data (Galati et al., 2006) from 133 participants. The results
reveal some cultural and regional differences in sources of happiness and a large degree of
similarity. Paradoxically, regional differences in both the importance and attainability of separate
sources of happiness within Russia are more pronounced than the differences between Russia and
Italy. The mean indices of the attainability of happiness were similar for Italian and both Russian
samples. We also found significant correlations between the mean individual attainability of
happiness and well-being, which were much higher in Moscow than in Petropavlovsk. Some
interesting correlations between sources of happiness and demographic and personality variables
are revealed. A cluster analysis of the sources of happiness distinguished two large clusters, one
including common ‘mundane’ sources, and another more individual sources. The last finding is in
line with Leontiev’s two-level model of happiness. A cluster analysis of participants was in line
with the analysis of sources and revealed two groups: the first one tends to choose happiness
sources ‘passively’ and the second choosing individualized happiness sources.

The article is based on the results of the survey of migrant workers from Central Asia in Moscow and Moscow region. One of the key issues of the study was the degree of adaptation of migrants to life in the capital. The article discusses the issue both from the point of view of experts on labor migration and of the migrants themselves.

Gerasimchuk I. In bk.: Assessment Report: Climate change and its impact on ecosystems, population and economy of the Russian portion of the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion. M.: WWF, 2011. P. 94-131.

Global climate change entails both threats and new opportunities for social and economic development of the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion. Taking into account the scale of climate change forecasted for the ASE, the importance of Altai-Sayan as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots as well as an important role assigned to the region in strategic plans of Russia’s economic development, the need to develop regional measures of adaptation to both negative and positive impacts of climate change raises no doubts. In particular, climate change is referred to as a new determinant of development and a security challenge to Russia and its regions in such strategic documents as: the RF Environmental Doctrine (2002), the RF Long-Term Social and Economic Development Concept for the period to 2020 (2008), the RF Forest Complex Development Strategy for the period to 2020 (2008), the RF National Security Strategy for the period to 2020 (2009), the RF Climate Doctrine (2009), the Energy Strategy of Russia for the period to 2030 (2009), the RF Food Safety Doctrine (2010) and the Strategy of Social and Economic
Development of Siberia for the period to 2020 (2010).

The paper addresses 5 main issues: 1) why most people in Bulgaria feel they are “at the bottom” and to what degree they feel the quality of their life, of their well-being, is too low; 2) what is the degree of trust among Bulgarian citizens in other people (the so-called social or interpersonal trust) and in official institutions (designated as “political trust”); 3) how trust is dependent on quality of life and on well-being
4) what are the causes of Bulgarians’ fears which impact on their unsatisfactory self-evaluations; 5) Bulgaria’s own location as compared with other EU countries on the scales for self-assessment of trust and well-being.

This paper assesses the impact of the quality of governance on economic performance in Russia’s 83 regions (Oblasts, Republics, Krais and Okrugs) from 2000 to 2008, a period of rapid economic advancement. Defining governance broadly as how authority is exercised, and using as a proxy a measure of the investment risk by region, this paper contributes to the literature on identifying the economic impact of governance. Our results find a significant association between governance in Russia’s diverse regions and economic well-being, that is, we find a performance gap in government practices. Specifically, our study shows that the main components of effective governance are the ability of the government to run effective public health programs aimed at decreasing the overall mortality rate among the working-age population, to create fair labor market conditions for all individuals who are still capable of working, and to improve the investment climate in the region leading to a higher level of investment in fixed assets. Our results implicitly suggest that effective governance comprises the tangible aspects of policymaking such as the adoption of effective public health, investment and labor policies and most importantly, for the regions of Russian Federation, although effective governance can be also an artifact of unobserved and unmeasurable managerial attributes of the local government to implement federal and region level laws and regulations.

The distractive effects on attentional task performance in different paradigms are analyzed in this paper. I demonstrate how distractors may negatively affect (interference effect), positively (redundancy effect) or neutrally (null effect). Distractor effects described in literature are classified in accordance with their hypothetical source. The general rule of the theory is also introduced. It contains the formal prediction of the particular distractor effect, based on entropy and redundancy measures from the mathematical theory of communication (Shannon, 1948). Single- vs dual-process frameworks are considered for hypothetical mechanisms which underpin the distractor effects. Distractor profiles (DPs) are also introduced for the formalization and simple visualization of experimental data concerning the distractor effects. Typical shapes of DPs and their interpretations are discussed with examples from three frequently cited experiments. Finally, the paper introduces hierarchical hypothesis that states the level-fashion modulating interrelations between distractor effects of different classes.

This article describes the expierence of studying factors influencing the social well-being of educational migrants as mesured by means of a psychological well-being scale (A. Perrudet-Badoux, G.A. Mendelsohn, J.Chiche, 1988) previously adapted for Russian by M.V. Sokolova. A statistical analysis of the scale's reliability is performed. Trends in dynamics of subjective well-being are indentified on the basis the correlations analysis between the condbtbions of adaptation and its success rate, and potential mechanisms for developing subjective well-being among student migrants living in student hostels are described. Particular attention is paid to commuting as a factor of adaptation.

This research focuses on estimating the signalling role of education on the Russian labour market. Two well-known screening hypotheses are initially considered. According to first of these, education is an ideal filter of persons with low productivity: education does not increase the productivity of a person, but it does give him the possibility to signal about his innate productivity via an educational certicate. The second of these hypotheses admits that productivity actually does increase during the period of study, but nevertheless the main objective of getting an education is to acquire a signal about one's productivity. Information theory suggests that employees use education signals during the hiring processes whereby employers screen potential employees. Employers and other categories of self-employed workers are usually not screened by the labour market via their educational attainments. Comparison of the returns to education of employees vs. self-employed workers could show the difference between the returns to signals and the returns to human capital. Yet another way to understand the signals is to consider the time dynamics of the returns to education for employees staying in the same firm. This helps us to answer the question about whether the signals are valuable only during the hiring process, or whether they remain valuable during the whole experience with the firm. This research is based on the Mincerian-type earnings functions, estimated on RLMS-HSE and NOBUS data. On the basis of the available information, we cannot say that the returns to signals and human capital differ significantly in Russia. Nevertheless we can say that, for the majority of men, the return to educational signals decreases with time spent in the same firm, while we observe the opposite for women.

This article is talking about state management and cultural policy, their nature and content in term of the new tendency - development of postindustrial society. It mentioned here, that at the moment cultural policy is the base of regional political activity and that regions can get strong competitive advantage if they are able to implement cultural policy successfully. All these trends can produce elements of new economic development.